MADRID, April 18 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish Treasury placed on Tuesday treasury bills with a value of 1.55 billion euros (about 1.65 billion U.S. dollars) on the market at negative interest rates, registering a high demand of more than 6 billion euros.
A total of 950.12 million euros worth of nine-month treasury bills carried an average interest rate of -0.33 percent, while the remaining 600 million euros worth of three-month treasury bills fetched an average interest rate of -0.487 percent.
After the auction, the Spanish risk premium stood at 152 points and Spain's 10-year bond interest rate at 1.7 percent.
The Treasury will hold another auction on Thursday when it expects to place between 4.5 billion euros and 5.5 billion euros on the market. This will be the last auction of the month.